User blog:Kate.moon/World's Best Pizza
There's always been lots of debate about who has/makes the best pizza. Does New York trump Chicago's deep-dish pizzas? Does Italy's amazing pizza count as "pizza" according to America? Pizza Hut vs. Papa Johns? Well, professional foodies have found the answer by eating pizza all over the world! While some may not qualify as "real" pizza, such as the umami-worthy okonomiyaki from Japan, all of places have impressive candidates for the title of "World's Best Pizza." Rome, Italy *Pie: Pizza al Taglio (by the slice) *Style: "Thin crust and is normally baked on rectangular trays in a wood-burning oven. Tasty toppers include prosciutto, asparagus, zucchini, eggplant and potato, but when in doubt, you can also order a traditional margherita with just tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil." *Where to try: They're a tasty street food you could try while sightseeing! Chicago, USA *Pie: Deep-dish *Style: "Thick, crunchy layer of crust that's been stretched up the sides of a deep-dish steel pan. That dough is then layered, starting with mozzarella cheese, followed by any preferred toppings (such as pepperoni, mushrooms or sausage) before it's coated in a layer of chunky tomato sauce. *Where to try: Lou Malnati's Pizzeria Osaka/Hiroshima, Japan *Pie: Okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza; Japanese omelet; cooked as you want it) *Style: "At its base is batter (made from flour, eggs, water, cabbage and cooking stock) paired with your desired combination of cheese, vegetables, fish and meat. In the city of Osaka, where the most popular version of the dish originated, all the ingredients are cooked together (by grilling on both sides) before the pizza is topped with a sweet brown sauce, mayonnaise, katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and aonori (seaweed flakes). If you're dining in Hiroshima, the cook will fix your okonomiyaki batter first before layering on the other fixings." *Where to try: Osaka's Mangetsu or Hassho Sao Paulo, Brazil *Pie: self-proclaimed Pizza Capital *Style: "They barely use tomato sauce, but they practically smother their pies in mozzarella cheese; popular pizza varieties include Portuguesa (also sprinkled with ham, onion, hard-boiled eggs and black olives) and Casteloes (which adds spicy Calabrese sausage)." *Where to try: Braz New York, USA *Pie: All-American Pizza *Style: "New York-style pizza is characterized by a puffy outer crust that gets thinner and crispier toward the middle. Tricks of the trade include hand-tossed dough and cooking the pizza on a stone rather than in a pan. And as any New Yorker will tell you, there's another key element to the Big Apple's slices -- the city's delectable tap water. Who is to say whether the water's importance is myth or actual method (The editors of the foodie blog Serious Eats even conducted a considerably comprehensive but ultimately unsatisfactory study)?" *Where to try: Lombardi's Pizzeria in Noho Naples, Italy *Pie: Neapolitan Pizza aka the Original *Style: "The wheat flour dough of a true pizza napoletana is kneaded into a pancake shape that shouldn't exceed 11 inches across, before it's smothered in fresh buffalo mozzarella, basil and San Marzano tomatoes. It's then cooked in a wood-fired dome oven at approximately 900 degrees Fahrenheit for no more than a minute and a half." *Where to try: Antica Pizzeria da Michele at Via Sersale; Pizzeria Brandi Source Yahoo Travel Category:Blog posts